Letterheads that make invoices look like they get paid

A letterhead is the only thing we print that has to go back through a printer afterwards, and that changes everything about how it is made.

The stock has to be laser safe. We print letterheads on 100gsm bond, designed to pass through a laser printer's fuser without curling, jamming or lifting toner. This is why you cannot simply print letterheads on thick silk card and hope. Coated stocks can soften at fuser temperature and, worse, your own printed text will not bond properly and rubs off. If your office has an unusual printer, tell us the model and we will confirm the stock suits it.

The margins have to leave room for your software. Word, Xero, QuickBooks and most invoicing tools apply their own default margins. If your letterhead design occupies that band, your invoice text lands on top of it. We set letterhead artwork so the live area your software will use stays clear, and we tell you the exact usable area so you can set your template to match.

No bleed, usually. Because the sheet has to feed reliably, full bleed colour to the edge is possible but not always advisable. It means printing oversized and trimming, which can leave a sheet slightly under A4 and confuse a paper tray. A design that holds a clean white margin feeds better and looks more established anyway.

Ink coverage matters. A heavy solid colour block across the top of a bond sheet can cockle the paper slightly as it dries. We flag it if your design is heading that way and suggest an adjustment that keeps the look.

If your logo only exists as a low resolution file, we can clean it up or redraw it from £15 before it goes on 500 sheets of your stationery.

Letterheads rarely arrive alone. The full business stationery set is letterhead, business cards and compliment slips, and the reason to do them together is consistency: same logo file, same colour build, same paper family, so a quote, an invoice and a card handed over at the door all look like the same company.

We took compliment slips, envelopes and presentation folders off the online price list because they vary too much to price in a box, but we still print all three. They are quoted the same day, so just ask.

Trades, solicitors, clinics and schools around E17 are the regulars for this. The common pattern is 500 sheets on the 3 to 4 day turnaround at £95, which works out at 19p a sheet, then reordering when the drawer empties. We keep your file, so reorders need no setup and no new proof. Many of our trade customers simply email us saying "same again" and we invoice afterwards.

For internal forms, job sheets and anything needing carbon copies, NCR pads are the better answer than letterheads, because they are built to be written on and torn off.